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Azu may miss training camp and season

Landry Fields signed his rookie contract Thursday, completing a Knicks roster
that is younger, deeper and more talented than any recent edition. It comes,
however, with one minor asterisk.

Kelenna Azubuike, who was expected to compete for a starting job, may
start training camp on the sideline, because of lingering concerns over his
surgically repaired left knee.

Azubuike tore his patellar tendon last November while playing for the Golden
State Warriors. He missed the rest of the season, and the Warriors expected
he would need a full year to recover.

The Knicks are taking a similarly conservative approach.
“We’re not sure,” said the team president Donnie Walsh, who described a
torn patellar tendon as “one of the worst injuries in the league.”

Azubuike spent most of the summer rehabilitating with a private trainer. He
just began working with the Knicks’ staff this week, so team officials do not
yet have a firm assessment. Azubuike is not yet running or jumping, which
suggests that he is a long way from playing high-level basketball.

When healthy, the 26-year-old Azubuike is probably the Knicks’ top candidate
to start at shooting guard, because of his athleticism, his strength and his
steady 3-point stroke. At 6 feet 5 inches and 220 pounds, Azubuike is built
“like a brick,” D’Antoni said, and is an above-average defender.

Wilson Chandler, Roger Mason and Bill Walker are also candidates to start at
shooting guard.

Fields, the 39th pick in the June draft, should compete for playing time at
both shooting guard and small forward after impressing team officials in the
summer league, when he averaged a team-leading 15.6 points. The 6-7, 210-
pound Fields averaged 22 points and 8.8 rebounds in his senior season at
Stanford.

With Fields signed, the Knicks’ roster is essentially set. They have 14 players
with guaranteed contracts and no immediate plans to fill the final vacancy.
(Center Jerome Jordan, another second-round pick, will begin his career in
Serbia. The Knicks retain his rights.) A handful of players will be brought to
camp on partial guarantees and perhaps compete for the 15th spot.

It is almost an entirely new roster. Of the 14 players under contract, only
Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Toney Douglas played major roles last season.
Walker (who played in 27 games) and Eddy Curry (7 games) also return.

The lineup will be rebuilt around the star forward Amar’e Stoudemire and point
guard Raymond Felton, the Knicks’ biggest free-agent signings this summer.
Gallinari, a rising star, will probably start at small forward.

Everything else will be up for grabs when the Knicks open training camp Sept.
25 at their training center in Greenburgh. They open the preseason Oct. 6 in
Milan, Italy, where Gallinari began his professional career as a teenager.

This was already known during the day of the trade

I will say it a million times "a knee injury is something to take seriously"
it does not matter the type of injury.
I would not stop Azu rehabilitation any time soon to fit into a running team.
Azu best recovery would be to skip this 2010-11 season.

We will have to develope Walker/Mason/Fields at the SG spot to mesh with
PG-Felton in the backcourt. While using Douglas as a combo-guard during
pressure situations on offense/defense late in the game.

For those who got it twisted Im going to fix-it
SF-Wilson Chandler is a 6.8 225lb SF. who have great skills at being a help-
defender of oponents SG/PF. Chandler playingtime minutes this season should
stay strictly at the SF position if the Knicks are looking to win. To all the Gallo/Randolph fans, Im sorry but these (two year) raw-players
have to develope "consistency" coming off the bench this season.
I know u are angry but we need young depth off the bench to win.

Signing 29 year old Earl Barron to perform at center would give
PF-Amare/SF-Chandler plenty of room on the wings to provide help to our
weakness at the SG position.
I do put D.League C-Earl Barron skills above Turiaf/Mozgov/Randolph at the
center spot. I do not want Barron going back to Miami this season.

I will say it a million times "a knee injury is something to take seriously"
it does not matter the type of injury.
I would not stop Azu rehabilitation any time soon to fit into a running team.
Azu best recovery would be to skip this 2010-11 season.

We will have to develope Walker/Mason/Fields at the SG spot to mesh with
PG-Felton in the backcourt. While using Douglas as a combo-guard during
pressure situations on offense/defense late in the game.

For those who got it twisted Im going to fix-it
SF-Wilson Chandler is a 6.8 225lb SF. who have great skills at being a help-
defender of oponents SG/PF. Chandler playingtime minutes this season should
stay strictly at the SF position if the Knicks are looking to win. To all the Gallo/Randolph fans, Im sorry but these (two year) raw-players have to develope "consistency" coming off the bench this season.
I know u are angry but we need young depth off the bench to win.

Signing 29 year old Earl Barron to perform at center would give
PF-Amare/SF-Chandler plenty of room on the wings to provide help to our
weakness at the SG position.
I do put D.League C-Earl Barron skills above Turiaf/Mozgov/Randolph at the
center spot. I do not want Barron going back to Miami this season.

I do agree with one thing you said. It is critical for Gallo to become more consistent this year. He shows flashes at times but then follows that up with a few subpar games. The coaching staff should know what their going to get on a nightly basis from him. This is no longer a throw away year. We need players who are going to produce at a high level.

Azzy probably won't be ready to start the season, especially in an offense thats predicated on running. The good news is that we do have depth at that position. Not great players but manageable.

Other than Kiya, who is saying this guy is going to miss the season? He has been rehabbing for months already. All I see is that he may miss training camp. We new this and Azzy was never the centerpiece of that trade so I'm not sure what all the hoopla is about. He is young and should be able to bounce back at his own pace and when ready should be a solid contributor.

Other than Kiya, who is saying this guy is going to miss the season? He has been rehabbing for months already. All I see is that he may miss training camp. We new this and Azzy was never the centerpiece of that trade so I'm not sure what all the hoopla is about. He is young and should be able to bounce back at his own pace and when ready should be a solid contributor.

Yes, Kiya is just trying to be negative, like always. But the article does mention that he isn't even able to run or jump yet. It will still take a long time before he is able to play NBA basketball. I don't see him playing much, if at all, for the first half of the season.

We need a SG. Badly. We're screwed if we're pinning our hopes on Mason and Chandler to be our SGs.

Yes, Kiya is just trying to be negative, like always. But the article does mention that he isn't even able to run or jump yet. It will still take a long time before he is able to play NBA basketball. I don't see him playing much, if at all, for the first half of the season.

We need a SG. Badly. We're screwed if we're pinning our hopes on Mason and Chandler to be our SGs.

If we can get Rudy or another SG I am down provided we don't give too much up. If we have to start the season with a mix of Walker, Chander and Mason I think we can get by and still be very effective. Mason can shoot and Walker still may surprise some people.

Lets remember that Gallo at SF and 6'10" is an outside threat that can take some of the burden off of the SG position. I am hoping Gallo has a breakout season and becomes a true threat but time will tell. I am optimistic because of AR, Gallko and our off season pick ups. Further we have trade assets and cap room moving forward to fill any needs. Most likely we won't be firing on all cylinders till the second half of the season since we have so many new players.

Yes, Kiya is just trying to be negative, like always. But the article does mention that he isn't even able to run or jump yet. It will still take a long time before he is able to play NBA basketball. I don't see him playing much, if at all, for the first half of the season.

We need a SG. Badly. We're screwed if we're pinning our hopes on Mason and Chandler to be our SGs.

My body is not new to knee-surgery, years ago I took a big interest in all pro
athletes that get different types of knee surgery.
Kiya saying, "I would not stop Azu rehabilitation any time soon to fit into a running team. Azu best recovery would be to skip this 2010-11 season.". wheres the negative????

Do u recall Larry Johnson/Camby/Mcdyess/Houston all coming back much to
early from their knee surgery?
The Big-Deal about giving Amare $100M 5 yr contract is his knee-surgery
kept him off court for a year and a half (being Dantoni's only bigman in the
rotation).

I can not help but to mention our top heads negative decision making.
Layden/Isiah/Walsh
Especially when we been missing a SG since the "Starks/Houston/Sprewell" era.
Notice all the top contenders and Championship teams since the
Jordan/Pippin era (1996 to 2010) all had a dynamic SG.

Sad to see Azzy not healthy, he would be our best SG if he was 100%....now we should make Mason the starter and give Walker big minutes at SG with Chandler being the sixth man to play the 2,3 and 4 positions.

Baron won't be a Knick unless we make a big trade, lose some players, and have room for him...but reporters have said that Donnie tried to get Baron to come back but he wants to test the market.